Stray Cat without a King
by Eastbound Traveller
Summary: One moment Pitou was being killed by Gon. The next she finds herself waking up somewhere completely unexpected. Without a king, what does a royal guard do in a new world?


Chapter 1: New World

As Neferpitou fell, she couldn't help but be filled with sincere happiness. Strange considering she was falling towards her death. Below her, Gon was charging up some kind of super punch as gravity took her helplessly towards him.

Pitou was launched into the air by a single kick and was going to die from a single punch. And she was glad.

Whatever conditions Gon had enforced to get a power that rivalled the king's, it couldn't last. No matter what he did, Pitou would be the only one to die from his rampage. The king was safe.

…

Gon swung his arm, fist colliding with Pitou's face, she went flying. Several impacts hit her body as she flew through trees and rocks, breaking them on collision and flying through. One final explosion signalled the stop to her journey, Pitou leaving a crater where she finally landed.

Blue blood filled her eyes as light faded from her vision.

Then. Nothing.

…

* * *

…

Pain was not the most surprising thing Pitou felt when she awoke. Neither was the surprisingly hot climate when she could have sworn she was in a colder area when she was knocked out.

No.

What was surprising was that she woke up at all!

From the feel of it, Pitou could tell her skull was fractured, she was haemorrhaging a concerning amount of blood, and most of her bones felt shattered. Not only should she definitely already be dead, but why hadn't Gon finished her off? A child with a stick could probably kill Pitou as she was now.

Maybe he ran out of energy after that first punch and died? Pitou may have felt sorry for him but would still be pretty pleased with that outcome. Or maybe he thought, quite reasonably, that Pitou died from that first punch, gave up and died. Also a good option.

Either way, Pitou couldn't figure out the answer sitting here and bleeding to death. "Doctor Blythe." The healing nen construct appeared above her and started repairing Pitou's shattered body.

Despite becoming capable of healing grave injuries within near hours, healing her broken body took nearly a whole day. By the time Pitou was finished, she was ravenous. Keeping her hunger at bay through sheer force of will, Pitou prioritized finding out what happened to Gon first.

Activating her En, Pitou was… confused.

Everything was different. The trees, the rocks, the island ocean… The ocean? There shouldn't be an ocean, she was meant to be inland. Checking her path of destruction, Pitou found: no Gon, No Kite, No buildings. Nothing!

There seemed to be a settlement on this island. Somewhere where Pitou could get Answers, and a snack. Focusing her En, Pitou found a group on the outskirts of town, perfect. Crouching, Pitou's thigh muscles could be seen bulging as she prepared to keep. The moment she finished aiming herself, Pitou kept, disabling her En and flying towards her new meal.

* * *

Double chin Din was mildly smart on the intelligent pirate scale. He was no Doflamingo, but neither was he a total Luffy. The main area Din struggled in was common sense.

A common enough affliction among pirates, but deadly in the new world.

Yes, what Din lacked was enough sense to avoid Yonkos. In fact, he had recently gained the ire of the world's strongest Man, Edward Newgate.

It had been a simple plan. While Whitebeard was fighting another crew, attack and claim the heads of one of his allies. Double chin Din's rookie bounty of over 100'000'000 would go up, he'd gain notoriety and respect, then get off scot-free.

Sadly, the allied crew had not gone down quickly, escaping and sailing off before he could claim Squard's head. Din, knowing Whitebeard would chase him, did manage to drive Square into Big Mom's territory. Hopefully, that would slow Newgate down long enough for Din to kill his ally and escape.

Squard had been run aground, now it was only a matter of time. "WHERE IS SQUARD?" Din shouted, punching over a house with haki.

Din had a sumo wrestler build, hence his famous double chin, and was by no means weak. His bounty was well earned. Suffice to say, the occupants of flavour island were terrified. Especially with their minister Saint-Marc, 22nd son of the Charlotte family already beaten. He was laying on the ground barely able to move, but he could listen.

"We- we can't tell you! Whitebeard would sink our whole island!" They shouted back. Even the homies, parrotted the answer like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Din was about to reply when he felt dread vibrate through his bones. Members of his crew and the town doubled over and vomited in utter fear. The few stronger members, including himself, felt like they were in the sights of some approx predator.

Turning around, Din hardened his arms with haki, he reacted just in time to save his limbs as Pitou launched through the treeline.

The first blow glanced his arms, not piercing his Haki but sending the pirate tumbling to the ground. From the crater of her landing, Pitou launched into another swipe. Looking up, Din saw the new attack coming… Then, the last thing he saw was his own body fall to the ground after Pitou ripped his head off.

The horrified onlookers reacted in several ways. Din's crew ran for the hills. Townspeople cowered at the sight of the monster in front of them. Some starting to cry, as Pitou bit into the decapitated head she was holding, devouring it with a joyful moan. A small group of pirates used the commotion to escape back to their grounded ship. Terrified of the monster but glad their pursuer was dead.

Finishing off her meal, Pitou licked the blood from her lips before strolling towards the seeming mayor of the present themed town.

"Nya, hey there, I have some questions for you!" Pitou stated in a sing-song tone. One stuttering explanation later, and a look at a basic diagram of the world, Pitou realised a few things.

This wasn't where she was knocked out.

This wasn't even the same world she was knocked out in. To assist the king, Pitou had memorized all maps they had of the world to be able to suggest different locations the king might want to visit. This 'red line' and 'grand line' definitely weren't on any of them. That combined with other nuggets of information meant she was much further from where she thought she was.

No one thought dimensional travel was a thing. Leading her onto…

Pitou was stuck here.

The idea of being stuck, away from the king was demoralising for Pitou. But through her actions, she knew the king would be safe with the other royal guards.

So what should she do now? Looking around at the fearful faces staring at her, Pitou felt a bit bad. After Komugi, Kite, and Gon, Pitou had learnt to regret taking the lives of humans frivolously. Some… maybe many of them had value. Possibly even a right to live.

"Sorry about your friend," Pitou stated, gesturing to the dead man's body with admittedly little regret.

"H-he wasn't with us," the terrified mayor stuttered out. "He and his crew attacked our town."

"Crew?" Pitou asked with a wag of her tail.

"Y-yes, they sailed to our island and attacked us."

"Hmmm," Pitou pondered. She couldn't sit around a do nothing; too dull. Maybe she should try helping out these weak humans. It could be fun! "Okay, I'll help you."

"W-what?"

"I'm going to go kill the rest of his crew for you," Pitou stated, spreading out her En. Ah, there were a couple of ships at the coast. That must be them. Dropping her En, Pitou leapt towards her new enemy, hoping this new chapter of her life wouldn't be boring.

Little did she know, under an hour later, another entity would come to help the town. Stepping out of a mirror, the spurs on his boots clicked as he walked. He walked gracefully, scarf around his face, the superman of Totland had arrived with some of his siblings.

And his undefeated streak wasn't ending today.

* * *

When the Whitebeard pirates arrived, Din's crew sailed away as fast as they could. It didn't stop Marco from flying over and wrecking their ship… once he confirmed Squard wasn't onboard of course.

Making landfall, the crew was about to start searching the island for Squard, when the man himself broke from the treeline, his crew right behind him.

"Pops!" He shouted upon seeing the Moby Dick.

"Squard, what a troublesome son you are," Whitebeard grumbled in good humour.

After pleasantries were exchanged, Whitebeard decided to put Squard's ship back in the ocean himself. Leaping off his ship, much to the annoyance of his nurses, to start pushing Squard's ship with only his own power.

Meanwhile, Marco struck up a conversation with Squard. When the allied captain mentioned Din was dead, the first division congratulated him, saying the rookie seemed tough.

"I didn't kill him, Marco, there's a monster on this island that did it." Squard clarified.

"A monster?"

"Yeah one moment he's terrorising a town, the next we're all struck by this terror. It was like haki but rather than being knocked out, fear flooded us. Then this cat girl monster jumped out of the bushes and killed him in just 2 attacks."

Marco seemed… sceptical about certain details of the story. He was about to ask some questions when the primal fear Squard described gripped him. Being a man his level, Marco was able to ward it off rather easily. Other members of his crew though collapsed, shaking in terror.

Then it was gone.

Reacting quickly, Marco pushed Squard out of the way just as Pitou rocketed out of the treeline. Marco felt his side rip open as she passed, blue flames erupting to heal the damage.

"Nya, you're on fire?" Pitou wondered aloud as she saw the flames dissipate, leaving perfectly healed skin. "Regeneration, what a weird body you have," she stated playfully.

A fight was about to break out when a presence behind Pitou made itself known. "Now what do you think your doing, brat?"

Turning around, Pitou saw Whitebeard Wade out of the water, no longer carrying Squard's ship. "You're strong," Pitou declared. Having developed an eye for strength, she knew Marco was strong, but Whitebeard… he was dangerous. He reminded her of the king, an overwhelming aura. Pitou wanted to fight him, to get her measure in this new world.

"Hmmm," Whitebeard stared at the Catgirl as her eyes sharpened, crouching and staring at him like he was a piece of meat. "What do you want, brat?"

Muscles bludged, forcing Pitou's thighs the grow over twice their size before Pitou was launching through the air.

"POPS!" Marko wasn't fast enough. No one was quick enough as Pitou sailed past them. Many didn't even realise she had passed them until they felt the shockwave.

Stopped mid-air, Pitou barely reacted in time to protect herself in time against Whitebeard's swing. All momentum just stopped, Pitou's limbs cracking open and splintering as they protected her head and body. The air itself cracked around the hit.

Then the shockwave happened.

Pitou flew back into the island, trees and rocks smashing apart as her body crashed through them. The entire peninsula shook from a simple punch from the world's strongest man. Crew on the shore stumbled and fell as a dust cloud of sand and splinter's flooded the air.

"Brat," Whitebeard walked back towards his ship as if nothing had ever happened. "It's 1000 years too early for me to fear being scratched by a cat."

Cheers erupted, shouts of Pops erupting from the men on the shore as the dust settled. Although, as most men sung praises Whitebeard and Marco looked to the horizon. "Come on, son," Whitebeard sighed. "Let's set sail. I don't want to deal with that sea hag together."

Nodding, Marco looked away from the ugly singing ship growing larger in the distance; the faster they were out of this weird Candyland, the better. The new world was just getting weirder and weirder these days.

* * *

Purururu purururu purururu, CLANK.

"Katakuri, what's the old man doing?"

"He's gone Mama," Katakuri raised some of the blue blood left on the shore to examine it before continuing. "Some rookie chased one of his sons into our territory. Some beast killed the rookie then lost against Whitebeard before the old man left."

"Beast?"

"Some kind of cat girl with blue blood that eats human flesh." Looking towards the trail of destruction leading into the woods, Katakuri started walking in. "Strong too, if the witnesses are to be believed."

"A new species?" Big Mom said gleefully. "Mamamama, bring it to Totland. Immediately."

CLANK

Continuing his walk, Katakuri hoped that the beast was still alive; Mama would be on the warpath if it wasn't.

A few minutes later, he arrived at a strange sight. Floating above what he presumed to be the catgirl was some kind of doll. From the doll's belly came surgical equipment, seemingly repairing the catgirl's clothes. Blue blood flooded around the feet of the creature, but it seemed to not have a scratch on it.

As the doll disappeared, Katakuri felt fear hit him like a wave briefly before disappearing. Now staring at him, the cat's eyes were filled with hunger.

The man was relatively strong, not quite like the older man from before but still a challenging fight. Being one shot was educational if a little humiliating, but now Pitou had a scale. She was pretty strong. That said, there were humans here that could beat her, the old man from before a clear example.

Staring at the new man, Pitou thought through several things:

She was hungry.

The man in front of her was much closer to her level than the man from before.

The man was not in the town from before, thus wasn't on her chosen side.

She was hungry.

Very, hungry.

By the time the two combatants erupted through the canopy and into the village, Pitou couldn't have been smiling wider. Despite her speed, strength, and analytical mind Pitou had yet to lay a claw on her enemy.

Diving him had his body transform, flowing around Pitou's attack before he swiftly counter-attacked, sending her flying. This happened again and again, or he would just dodge or counter immediately as if he knew what Pitou was going to do before she even started to swing.

Despite her inability to touch her opponent, his attacks had done little to damage her carapace. Pitou prioritised dodging that trident he somehow pulled out of his body, allowing a few enhanced fists and kicks through as she did. Each impact was felt but failed to damage Pitou through her nen and impressively tough carapace.

The fight was fun.

But Pitou wasn't going to let it continue without making this guy sweat.

So focussed on the enemy in front of him, Katakuri barely reacted in time as another body entered the fray. Bending and dodging at impossible degrees, Katkuri liquified his body as he tried to put distance between him and the enemies now trying to dogpile him. As Pitou grabbed his trident, Katakuri was forced to abandon the weapon as he escaped, landing metres away from their conflict.

With a clear look at the situation, even Katakuri couldn't help his eyes widening at the sight in front of him. The beaten, blood, and in some cases limbless bodies of the men who had attacked the town now stood shoulder to shoulder with the cat monster. Including the headless body of double chin Din.

The corpses charged him, Pitou throwing down his trident to join the fray herself. Donuts formed from the ground, fists erupting from the centre as Katakuri engaged the numerically superior force. Weaving between each combatant, Katkuri started taking them apart.

Quickly he found that losing limbs and breaking bones did little to slow down these corpse dolls. Only when their torso was removed did the collection of pieces fall down in an unmoving heap. Every movement was calculated, making sure to stay aware of the cat demon as he took her dolls apart. Half a dozen were finished before Katakuri was forced into another retreat to avoid a particularly harsh strike.

"Shouldn't he be helping Lord Daifuku?" One audience whispered to the large man watching the fight intensely.

"No," Daifuku made sure to be ready to jump at any moment, despite his words. "Whatever it is, it managed to disarm Katakuri, even if it can't land a hit on him. If we enter the fray, my brother will have to split his focus between fighting that thing and saving us. Let Katakuri handle it; he won't lose."

While Daifuku was confident in his last statement, he was still unsettled. Random creatures which can fight sweet commander's don't just appear. The fact this fight was even still going was… unnerving.

"WAIT, PLEASE STOP!" Daifuku was about to eviscerate the mayor of this small town for daring to try to order a sweet commander when he realised the cat monster had paused. Katukuri, equally confused, held a distance from the beast and her few remaining corpse dolls. "PLEASE, DON'T ATTACK LORD KATAKURI! HE'S A HERO TO THIS ISLAND!" The old mayor fell to his knees as he finished shouting, breathing heavily under the attention placed upon him.

"Nya?" Twisting her head, Pitou returned his attention to her opponent. "You're not with the men attacking this town?"

"No."

"Hmmm," Pitou blinked a few times, her corpse dolls frozen in the air. "Want to keep fighting? You're pretty strong."

"...No."

"Okay," a moment later the carcasses fell to the ground, their strings cut. Picking up one of the bodies, Pitou bit into its skull before returning her attention to Katakuri. "Sorry about attacking you. I was hungry after fighting that guy on the shore. Healing after that punch took a lot out of me, nya."

While many watching paled as the cat monster's casual consumption of the cadaver, Katukuri relaxed his stance and moved to pick up his trident. "No problem, I am sweet commander Katakuri of the Big Mom pirates."

"Neferpitou," she said, bowed slightly in respect as she dropped the remains of her meal. "Royal guard chimaera ant."

"There are more of you?" Katakuri came to a stop in front of Pitou, the catgirl now having to crane her neck up to look him.

"No, just me now," Pitou replied, wagging her tail behind her. The bystanders could hardly believe the two powerhouses that were just trying to kill each other were now chatting cordially.

How to word this… "Will you come with me." The direct method was worth a try, Katakuri thought.

"Sure."

That was easy.

Over the next few minutes, Katakuri made sure the island was secure before excusing himself while Pitou poked Diafuku's stomach.

Pururu purururu pururu CLANK.

"Mama."

"Katakuri, did you find my cat?"

"Yes mama," Katakuri replied, watching Pitou listen intently at something Daifuku was saying. "Its name is Neferpitou and is seemingly an undiscovered species called chimaera ants."

"Mamamama! Bring her here immediately Katakuri."

"Yes Mama," Katakuri said before pausing for a moment. "Do we have any prisoners at the moment?"

"Hmmm, why?"

"Pitou eats people, particularly their heads, if we plan to keep her she'll need to be fed."

"Mamama, good thinking. I'm sure we have some laying around, now come through the mirrors, I want to meet little Pitou."

CLANK

* * *

Travelling through the mirror world felt weird to Pitou. Spreading out her En within the mirror world, she found no way to go through any of the mirrors despite being able to see through them. Weird. Noticing the rest of the party, bar Katakuri and a few others, cowering in fear, Pitou drew her En back in so they could continue onwards.

Emerging from the mirror, she was met with the strangest looking human she had ever seen. A giant of a woman, dressed in pink and as round as she was tall, Big Mom was undoubtedly unique.

"Mamama," the woman laughed joyfully as she looked down at her new guests. "You must be Pitou."

Leaping up, Pitou effortlessly landed in the woman's hand before respectfully bowing politely but not subserviently. "Neferpitou, chimaera ant royal guard."

"Ahhh," Big mom cooed as she rubbed Pitou's head. The force of her hand would have crushed most animals, but to Pitou it actually felt rather nice, purring at the attention. "Totland is a haven to all species, but I don't have any chimaera ants. You'll live here, won't you?"

It may have been a question, but the seriousness of the statement would have made most pirates tactically ruin their trousers. Even though Pitou could sense this woman was strong, strong enough to rival that man from earlier, the threat was lost on her. "Sure," after all, there wasn't anywhere else she needed to be.

The tense air disappeared as fast as it arrived as Big Mom smiled widely, stroking Pitou's head harder as she laughed. "Mamama, wonderful. Welcome to the best place in the world, Pitou!"

In return, Pitou just smiled. Today was a good day. She protected the king, found out where she stood compared to others in this new world and found a decent group of people to live with!

What things awaited Pitou in this new world?

* * *

Note: This is a story I have a much less defined end game for. Part of me feels like Pitou should turn up before Alabaster to play around with Ace. Another part of me thinks she should go for Warlord, or even Sweet commander. If the latter I'll probably wait until Sabaody for her to meet the straw hats. Honestly not sure, I have at least one more chapter planned where Pitou can make some BIG NEWS, but beyond that I welcome prompts/suggestions to figure out where to go with this.


End file.
